1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system. More specifically, the present invention provides a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product to adjust window heights or widths on displays for data processing systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Developers of computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s created a desktop metaphor for interacting with data processing systems. The desktop metaphor allows a user to view one or more windows within which a user interacts with a program. Behind the one or more windows is a “desktop” that can show a picture or some other background, along with a number of icons representing shortcuts to executable files or other files.
Over time, quality of displays used to display desktop windows increased. A chief metric of the quality of a display is the number of picture elements, or pixels, the display can show. A high number of pixels allow a display to show more detail along each dimension of a displayed virtual object. A dimension is the length of a virtual object in a particular direction. At a time when displays having 640 pixel width by 480 pixel height were state of the art, many user interface developers began designing data processing systems to display multiple program outputs. For each user interface program that a developer envisioned to operate simultaneously, the developer assigned the data processing system the task of showing a display window.
A display window can be characterized as a panel within a display or video memory. The panel is often rectangular, though the panel can have any shape. Within the panel is displayed the output of a program or data. Output includes text written by a user, data output by a program, a program's user interface, a data file name, or any other output of a program or data processing system hardware.
Rectangular display windows, the most common type of display window, have two boundaries that are generally parallel to each other. In addition, rectangular display windows have two other boundaries that are about perpendicular to the first two boundaries. Boundaries are about perpendicular even though a rounded corner may join each boundary. The term about perpendicular means that two boundaries intersect at an angle within a few degrees of 90 degrees.
A program for controlling a display window provides many ways for a user to adjust the size and placement of the display window within the display. For most of the era that desktop metaphor data processing systems have been popular, the maximum size of a display has been under 1,000 pixels on a side. Under such circumstances, developers realized that displays were inadequate to display more than a fraction of a file that a user desired to see. Consequently, developers provided a quick mechanism to enlarge a display window to occupy most, if not all, of the visible screen. At the time, developers created a maximize button, which is usually displayed in the upper right hand corner of the display window. A user that clicks on a maximize button triggers the data processing system to enlarge a display window to cover substantially the entire visible display.
As time progressed display technology advanced such that displays could show over 1,000 pixels on a side. Unfortunately, in the case of many settings of word processing programs, a fully enlarged display window either leaves significant fractions of the display window blank, or crowds out other display windows that benefit the user. Display areas tend to be better utilized if a word processing program displays a display window that is relatively tall and narrow in the height and width dimensions, respectively. In this context, “tall” means a display window that extends about to the top and bottom of the screen from the perspective of the user. In this context, “narrow” means the window width is either not as large as the window height dimension, or the window width does not extend to about each side of a display from the perspective of the user.
However, users must resort to the manual use of a mouse to size and position a display window that is tall and narrow, as described above. A user can feel compelled to leave desktop space available for additional display windows, but at the cost of exerting these additional movements and clicks. As a result, users are frustrated by the need to make adjustments extending a display window to a desired size quickly and efficiently.
Consequently, users would be less frustrated if users could rapidly stretch a display window along a single dimension. In addition, users would be less frustrated if users could restore display windows back to an original size or to a former size.